Sunday, May 17, 2015 (continued)
Driving down Mount Lemmon the way we came did not take as long as going up, same with all the cyclists! We headed east to Sabino Canyon, but turned left on E Sunrise Drive. I remarked we would be heading in that direction later, but Ginger said it would be only a minute's detour. And it was, to see her old house on N Cherokee Ridge Road.
At Sabino Canyon, we were on time to catch the next mini-tram for a tour of the mini-gorge.
The driver repeated detailed instructions at every stop, but the other drivers must not have been so explicit, since no one else we encountered seemed to know the ticket routine of each person holding his own. Besides all the rules and regulations (the driver could see when not all arms and legs were inside the vehicle), we learned quite a bit about plants, animals, geology, etc.
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| Spiraling saguaro |
We were told saguaro cactus grows slowly, and at 30-50 years they reach about 10-feet in height and start to bear flowers and fruit. After 75-100 years they may grow start growing arms, although not all saguaros have arms.
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| Saguaros on rock cliffs |
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| Sabino Creek, home to the native Gila intermedia/Gila Chub |
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AZ Deputy Sheriff John Anderson Pool,
named for a rescuer who died in the line of duty in 1948;
note the banded gneiss rocks (KAH) |
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| Karen and Tamiko (photo by Ginger) |
People could board or disembark at one of nine stops for any number of hiking opportunities. We took the tram back the whole way.
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| Bridge warning signs |
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| Acropolis rock formation |
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| Parkinsonia microphylla/Palo Verde flowers |
Karen purchased a T-shirt at the Sabino Canyon gift shop and used her credit card with its picture of a sailboat on water. The clerks teased, "What is this?!" as if they had never seen water before!
We drove back out to E Sunrise Drive and headed west. Stopped for lunch at Sunr
ise Café for Mediterranean food.
Next: DeGrazia Gallery of the Sun.
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